This invention relates to an improvement to a rescue device for the rapid deployment of the rescue device. Emergency situations require that rescue devices are able to be deployed quickly and safely. Fires and other emergency situations require immediate action to safely evacuate the building and minimize injury individuals trying to escape from the building. The problems respect to such disasters have been more serious in multi-story buildings as evacuation of them are much more difficult than that of a single-story structure. This invention is an improvement to the Rescue Device of Reece, U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,066 which provides for the safe and quick evacuation of individuals from a multi-story building. This invention has all of the advantages of the Reece Rescue Device and has improved on the ease of deployment allowing the within invention to be deployed much faster with substantially less change of an individual not being able to secure the rescue device securely to the structure. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,066, Reece discloses a system that requires the individual deploying the rescue device to wratchet the cinch strap securing the outside clamp arm against the building securing the rescue device in place. Although this provides a secure platform for deploying the rescue chute, it requires that an individual tighten the device in place. The within invention eliminates this requirement and utilizes an over the center lock mechanism securing the rescue device in place substantially faster and with considerably less effort on the part of the individual installing the device. The rescue device of the within invention is sized for the window opening so that when the device is required to be used for the evacuation of individuals in an emergency situation, it may be affixed to the structure window in a matter of a few seconds allowing the immediate evacuation of the individuals in an emergency situation. Although there are numerous rescue devices, if a person is unable to deploy the device it is of little use. Because the within device can be preset to the appropriate wall thickness in advance, the person having to use the rescue device does not have to make any additional adjustments and merely has to set the rescue device in the window sill and the inside bar is locked in place securing the rescue device immediately without further adjustments. When time is of the essence, the within rescue device saves precious seconds allowing for individuals to be evacuated much sooner than any other device.
The need to be able to deploy any rescue device quickly and with the least amount of effort on the part of the individual is required to provide the greatest amount of time for evacuation.